In the summer of 1402 the Ottoman state suffered the greatest disaster since its founding. On the Çubuk plain near Ankara, Bayezid I was defeated by Timur (Tamerlane) and taken prisoner. The eleven years that followed are known in Ottoman history as the Interregnum (Fetret Devri).

The Thunderbolt

Bayezid came to the throne in 1389, after the Battle of Kosovo. His swift campaigns earned him the nickname Yıldırım, “the Thunderbolt”. In 1396 he defeated a crusader army at Nicopolis, kept Constantinople under blockade for years and annexed most of the Turkmen principalities of Anatolia. Many of the lords who lost their lands fled east to Timur.

Two rulers collide

Timur had built an empire stretching from Iran to India and regarded Anatolia as part of his sphere. Harsh letters passed between the two rulers. In 1400 Timur took Sivas, and Bayezid marched on lands under Timur’s protection in response. War was now unavoidable.

The Çubuk plain, July 1402

The battle is usually dated 28 July 1402. Its outcome was decided by the Anatolian contingents in the Ottoman army: seeing their former lords in Timur’s ranks, these troops changed sides. The Serbian allies and the Janissaries held out to the end, but Bayezid and his son Musa were captured.

Bayezid died in captivity at Akşehir in March 1403. He is said to have been carried in an iron cage, but the story is disputed in the sources and is most likely a legend that grew later.

Brothers at war

Timur returned the Anatolian principalities to their former rulers and left the region. The Ottoman lands were divided among Bayezid’s sons: Süleyman ruled in Edirne, İsa around Bursa and Mehmed in Amasya, while Musa, once released, joined the contest. For years the brothers fought one another.

For the Eastern Roman Empire, Ankara was an unexpected reprieve: the fall of Constantinople was delayed by half a century.

Mehmed I reunites the state

In 1413 Mehmed defeated Musa at Çamurlu and became sole ruler as Mehmed I. Because he reunited the state, some historians call him the “second founder” of the Ottoman Empire. Under him and his son Murad II the state recovered, and by 1453 it was strong enough to conquer Constantinople.

Where to see it today

  • Bursa, Yıldırım complex: the mosque Bayezid founded and his own tomb.
  • Bursa Grand Mosque (Ulu Cami): the twenty-domed mosque Bayezid built after his victory at Nicopolis.
  • Bursa, Green Mosque and Green Tomb: works of Mehmed I, who is buried in the tomb.
  • Istanbul, Anadolu Hisarı: the fortress Bayezid built on the Asian shore of the Bosphorus during his sieges of Constantinople.

For the beginnings of the state, read From Söğüt to Bursa.